Turbulence
by Ms. Videl Son
Summary: AU. Sasuke hated flying. SasuHina.
1. Chapter 1 -- Baggage

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and life-affirming make-out sessions.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

You'd better turn off your electronics now; it's going to be a bumpy ride.

* * *

**Chapter 1: **Baggage

Hinata_ loved _flying. Sure, airports were a pain and the food on planes was terrible, but there was a spirit of adventure in flying that other modes of transportation didn't have. And, really, despite what people liked to think, airplanes were perfectly safe. The average person is much more likely to get into a fatal car accident than an aerial collision or a sudden fall from the sky...

So, no, Hinata wasn't afraid of the fourteen hour-long flight to New York, NY with her classmates. If anything, she was looking forward to the stomach-flipping, gravity-defying journey through the wide blue sky...As she waited in line at customs, she trembled a little in anticipation.

"Nervous, Hinata-chan?"

The Hyuuga heiress turned to the person immediately behind her and smiled at him. He was just one more reason why this trip was going to be the best she'd ever taken. "N-No, Naruto-kun. Excited!"

The blond boy guffawed at her, his loose tie swinging back and forth like a pendulum against his chest. "I would've thought you'd be afraid of flying!"

"Oh, no," Hinata replied, blushing demurely. She tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear before continuing, "M-My family travels all the time. W-We even have our own pl-plane."

Naruto's eyes widened comically. He looked like a gawking baboon (an adorable gawking baboon). "No shit?"

Not really the type to curse, the heiress replied, "N-No fooling."

"I knew you guys were loaded, but...wow..."

Hinata felt her shy blush erupt into heated embarrassment. She clutched her hands within the burgundy fabric of her uniform skirt, twisting the thick material into wrinkled clumps. If she could see Hinata now, her grandmother would scold her for making herself less presentable. "M-My f-father's company is d-d-doing very well..."

"I guess so...," the blond said, shaking off his surprise with another hearty laugh as he shrugged off his suit jacket. He flung it casually over his shoulder by two fingers, making Hinata inwardly swoon. "So you fly a lot, then?"

"Y-Yes," she responded, feeling the pool of warmth in her cheeks begin to abate. Sheepishly, she released the hem of her skirt and allowed it to rest naturally against her thighs. Hopefully, no one would notice the wrinkles and fingernail marks. "We have a lot of family abroad."

"Any of them where we're going?" Naruto asked, his sky blue eyes darting up the line in front of them. He seemed to be looking for someone.

Hinata replied cautiously as she watched his movements. "A c-couple of cousins, I think..."

"Sweet!" he exclaimed, though Hinata wasn't entirely sure that he was talking to her. A little ways ahead of them, a bobbing head of pink hair was visible amidst the sea of black and brown.

Hinata smiled wanly at her crush before readjusting the shoulder strap of her carry on bag and moving forward in line. This trip might not end up as perfect as she had originally imagined it, but she was going to make the best of what she was given.

* * *

Sasuke _hated_ flying. It wasn't just the crowded noise of the airport or the crappy food on planes, but also the inherent danger of entrusting your life to a floating metal tube that hovered over the ocean. Sure, a person is much more likely to die in a car accident than a plane crash, but really. How often do most people fly? If businessmen used airplanes to get to work every morning, then perhaps the statistics would change. Besides, one is much more likely to walk away from a car accident...

Basically, Sasuke figured that if man were meant to fly, he'd have wings sprouting out of his back. Since he could think of no one outside of comic books with that particular feature, the Uchiha prodigy had to figure that Fate had decreed that mankind was meant to stay on the ground. Period.

"Any of them where we're going?"

"A c-couple of cousins, I think..."

"Sweet!"

If Sasuke wasn't agitated already, he definitely was now. The dobe was right behind him schmoozing the only girl in their class (heck, the only one in the entire _school_, even) that didn't give him the heebie-jeebies. Hyuuga Hinata didn't stalk him, didn't make creepy shrines of him in her locker, didn't attack him with poorly composed poetry...basically, she was the only girl in his acquaintance that he even halfway considered "not bad." (Not that he _liked_ her, or anything, she was just nice to...he liked it when she...never mind.)

As the line inched forward, Sasuke slyly watched Hinata and her dumbass suitor out of the corner of his eye. Sure, some might consider the behavior was creepy and almost stalker-ish, but it gave him something to concentrate on other than his impending doom.

"How many times have you been overseas, Hinata-chan?" the dobe queried, clearly not paying attention to her. Instead, his gaze was trained on something up ahead. When Sasuke turned (very subtly, of course) to investigate, he had to stifle a groan; Naruto was ignoring Hinata for that pink-haired harpie, Sakura.

"Umm...," she paused a moment, presumably to think about her response. She was twitching a little bit and Sasuke suspected that she knew what Naruto was up to. That dick. "About...s-seven times this year. I think."

The dobe was all amazement at her answer; he even stopped staring at Sakura and returned his attention to where it should be. Hinata blushed under the wide-eyed scrutiny. "Woah..."

"Figures," Sasuke muttered to himself. The charity case scholarship student probably hadn't ever left the the city before, much less the country. Sasuke couldn't help but scoff a little at the moron.

"S-So...which seat are you in? On the p-plane, I mean," Hinata asked, probably searching for a change of subject. The patchy pink stain on her cheeks reminded him of that time in kindergarten when he'd spilled his cranberry juice on a girl's white skirt...

Naruto riffled through his jacket pockets before withdrawing a crumpled and slightly torn boarding pass. "12B."

A cheerful smile spread across Hinata's cheeks, causing Sasuke's heart to play a quick game of leap frog with his Adam's apple. The blush was now more of a warm glow. "Oh! I'm in 12A. W-We're right next to each other."

"Oh, cool," Naruto said, though Sasuke found it hard to believe him. The dobe suddenly looked nervous and began inching away from the shy heiress.

The people in front of him – a bunch of bickering harpies hellbent on sitting next to him on the plane – moved forward another few feet and Sasuke followed, his dark mood growing steadily darker. He stopped short of the girls by a few inches lest he give them the wrong idea with his proximity and they pounced on him. He just didn't have the patience for their lovesick antics today.

"Oh! I'm s-so sorry...I've g-got it..."

Sasuke returned his attention to Hinata, frowning bitterly at her. She was struggling with her bag, which seemed to be a little too heavy for her slight frame.

"Are you alright, Hinata-chan? Do you need some help?" the dobe offered, reaching out a tanned hand to take her luggage. Oh, so now he wanted to make nice with his plane buddy? Pathetic...

The heiress shook her head in refusal and gave her belongings a hefty jerk, successfully reattaching the strap to her shoulder but also stumbling a little with her efforts. "I-I've got it...," she said, teetering a little. Before fully regaining her balance, she tipped over backwards and collided with Naruto's chest. "Oh! I'm s-so sorry..."

Okay, enough.

Without even bothering to ask, Sasuke trudged over to her, snatched the bag away and hefted it onto his own arm. (Man, what was she taking with her? Barbells?) "You're holding up the line, Hyuuga."

Hinata's face immediately paled at his sudden appearance. Funny, he'd expected her to blush; that's what she did in the presence of every other boy in school. "I'm s-s-sorry, Sasuke-san...," she stuttered, stepping away from the dobe with her hands outreached for her bag. "I'll j-just t-take that now and..."

"Whatever...just hurry up," Sasuke snipped, swirling the bag out of her reach. He stalked away from the stuttering heiress, her luggage bumping against his hip. He was such a gentleman.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is another story I found buried in my files, just waiting to be completed. Seriously, this hasn't even been opened since 2010! I'm still working on editing it, so please be kind...9-10 chapters to follow.

Also, there will be a mature chapter near the end. I'll post the non-smutty stuff here and the whole enchilada someplace else. I'll let you know when the time...ah, comes. (badum-ch!)

**Original A/N:** Yeah...I had a dream about planes the other night and this is what came of it. Bite me.

Anyway, I can't believe this but I'm starting a chapter fic! Not to worry, though; all of the chapters are complete (in broad strokes, anyway) so there won't be any of that mess that we had with SnJ. I should update this once a month or so. (Sooner, if the feedback is positive.)

Self-beta'd.

_. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) . _

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	2. Chapter 2 -- Terminal

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and life-affirming make-out sessions.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

* * *

**Chapter 2:** Terminal

Hinata wasn't going to let her encounter with the Uchiha ruin her day. He might be a moody sourpuss, but she would soon be rid of him. Once they boarded, she was sure that he was going to be on the other end of the plane with his fangirl harem clustered around him, reveling in "unwanted" attention. While he was basking in his popularity, Hinata would be slowly working her way into Naruto's heart, all thoughts of Sasuke and his grumpiness banished from her consciousness.

With that comforting thought in mind, she took a seat next to Naruto in the terminal. He wasn't even pretending to pay attention to her anymore (what with Sakura sitting directly across from them with the rest of the Uchiha Sasuke Fan Club), but that couldn't spoil Hinata's good mood, either. Just as she was going to be separated from Sasuke for the next fourteen hours, she was going to be in the company of her secret sweetheart for the same span of time! They could talk, get to know each other and maybe, just maybe, arrange to spend time together after the plane landed...who knew where that could lead?

Hinata was smiling so broadly at the concept that her cheeks were beginning to hurt. By this time the next day, she and Naruto could be well on their way to being something more than acquaintances. They might even be (dare she even think it?) _together_.

The heiress chanced a shy peek at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. He was showing off for the girls (all of which seemed unimpressed) with a series of gravity-defying flips and drawing the attention of more than just their classmates. Everyone was watching and she could tell he was reveling in it.

"Oh, Naruto-kun...," she said wistfully, her focus suddenly blurring as she dove back into her world of fancy. A world where she and Naruto were lovers...

She could imagine just how it would be. They would hold hands between classes, she could feed him lunch from her own chopsticks, he would offer to walk her home every afternoon...oh, it would be just _divine_!

As the many scenarios of their happy life together rose to the surface of Hinata's mind, she sighed.

* * *

Sasuke was going to be sick. The expression on Hinata's face while she watched Naruto do stupid tricks for tourists was...well, sickening. He would never be able to understand what she saw in the dobe and, quite honestly, didn't want to. That was something she could keep to herself.

Well, whatever. It was no skin off of his nose if she wanted to throw herself away on some stupid, annoying –

"Saasuke-kuuun!"

The shrill cry was the only warning Sasuke had before Ino pounced. "Get off," the Uchiha commanded gruffly, tugging at the arms that were locked around his throat. Apparently feeling that he was playing hard to get, Ino tightened her embrace and held on tenaciously. "I'm not in the mood."

The blonde teen flipped her long ponytail over her shoulder as she cooed, "Oooh...my poor sweetums! Are you scared of flying?"

"No." Egad, did she have to talk so loud?

"You can tell me, darling," Ino wheedled, twisting her body so that she was sitting squarely in his lap. She nuzzled his cheek before continuing, "It's cute to have a little phobia."

Resisting the urge to violently fling Ino to the floor, the prodigy growled audibly. "I don't have a phobia. Get _off_ of me."

The girl sighed wistfully and cuddled closer to his chest, her cheek resting against his shoulder. A light blush stained her cheeks as she said, "You're so cute when you're shy..."

"_Hey, Ino-pig_!"

Ino grimaced and turned around to face her pink-haired foe. Sakura had broken away from the crowd formed around Naruto – who was now arguing with an irate-looking Kiba – to come investigate the goings-on between her beloved and one of his many stalkers.

"Billboard-brow. You're looking mighty jealous today," the blonde commented, blue eyes narrowed aggressively. She reasserted her grasp on Sasuke's neck as if expecting Sakura to claw him out of her arms with her manicured talons.

The class braniac leaned over the pair of them, her green eyes sparking with manic energy. "Sasuke-kun is _not_ a piece of furniture, you cow!"

"That is _so_ mature, chicken-legs," Ino countered, mooing for effect.

Sakura's face turned as pink as her hair as she returned fire with another insult; "At least I don't have to shave my goat beard every morning before first period!"

"Duck-nose!"

"Pork-butt!"

"Sheep-pits! You should really think about bringing your razor to the locker room with you if you're not going to shave at home," the blonde said, sneering at her adversary. "Forget her, Sasuke-kun," Ino cooed, finally breaking the name-calling stalemate. In the background, Sakura fumed and stammered for more insults. "She's just jealous of our bond. So, where are you sitting?"

Sasuke frowned and attempted to shift in a way that would send Ino tumbling off his lap, but she clung fast. He really wished she would move soon; his legs were falling asleep. "None of your business."

Apparently content to ignore all of his protestations, Ino began groping inside his jacket pockets. "Where did you put your boarding pass, honeybunches?"

"Hey! Get your hands off of him, you – "

"Ah-ha!" Ino proclaimed, whipping the sought item out of the back pocket of his jeans. (He hadn't missed the way her hand had cupped his butt, he'd just ignored it.) "3B! Oh, sweetums, that's so perfect! I'm in 3C, we'll be right next to each other for the whole flight!"

Sasuke was feeling ill all over again.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Sakura laughed triumphantly, yanking Ino's head back by her ponytail. Grinning, she announced, "I'm in 3A! I can keep an eye on the two of you the whole time."

The Uchiha prodigy swallowed his sudden urge to vomit. Not only was he risking his life by boarding a flimsy metal vessel with questionable safety standards, but his sanity would also be at stake if he stayed sandwiched between those two lunatics for the duration of their flight.

Something had to be done.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Since this chapter is so short and doesn't need much editing, I decided to go ahead and post it. I'll probably load each chapter as soon as I'm satisfied with them.

Btw, it should get more exciting starting next chapter...

Self-beta'd.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

_– Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	3. Chapter 3 -- Now Boarding

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and life-affirming make-out sessions.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

* * *

**Chapter 3:** Now Boarding

"_Flight 243 to New York is now boarding...Now boarding, flight 243 to New York..._"

"Th-That's us," Hinata said to no one in particular as she gathered the belongings she had scattered around her feet. She stood, heavily burdened by her carry on and thick winter coat, but maintained her balance as best she could. Once she reestablished equilibrium, she began her slow waddle to the gate.

She briefly worried that Naruto – who had wandered off to the bathroom a few minutes ago with a bloody nose, courtesy of an annoyed Kiba – hadn't heard the announcement, but when she turned around to look for him she discovered that he was talking to Sasuke. The two boys were huddled together near the gift shop, deep in conversation about something. They were too far away and the crowd was too noisy for Hinata to overhear them, but Naruto was becoming very...animated about whatever Sasuke was saying.

"_Flight 243 to New York is now boarding...Now boarding, flight 243 to New York..._"

Sasuke looked up when the placid female voice repeated her earlier news over the PA. For an instant, he seemed to be staring at Hinata, but before she could even think to blush under such blatant scrutiny he turned back to Naruto and renewed their conversation.

"_Seriously_?!" the blond boy shouted, only to be shushed violently by Sasuke's elbow in his ribs. They exchanged a few more words, much quieter this time, and seemed to reach a decision.

After that, they broke apart and Naruto scurried ahead of his unlikely buddy toward the gate. When he passed Hinata, the blond boy beamed cheerfully at her and chirped, "Hi, Hinata-chan! Bye, Hinata-chan!"

"Um...h-hi?" the heiress replied, but not before Naruto disappeared into the crowd of Konoha Academy students lining up at the gate. He already had his boarding pass out and ready for the attendant at the counter.

"Come on, Hyuuga," a smooth, deep voice said, causing Hinata to jump. When she turned, there was Sasuke, glaring down at her expectantly. "Let's get in line."

"S-Sure...," she replied, blinking up at him as she shifted the heavy bag against her hip.

Just like before, Sasuke didn't bother to ask permission before taking her luggage from her and throwing it over his own shoulder. He grunted a little when the bag bounced against his back, commenting, "You should travel lighter."

Hinata reached out for her confiscated belongings, stammering, "Oh! Y-You don't have to do that, S-S-Sasuke-san! I-I can – "

The Uchiha smirked, apparently amused at her distress, and dodged her hands. When she made to follow his movements, he weaved out of her way again. Hinata could swear that he was laughing at her during their entire tango and, against her more friendly inclinations, she was annoyed. "G-Give it – "

"_Flight 243 to New York is now boarding...Now boarding, flight 243 to New York..._"

"We'd better get in line," Sasuke repeated as he nudged her gently out of the way and made his way toward the queue of students. His boarding pass was already in his hand, ready and waiting for the attendant up ahead.

Hinata frowned a little at his back before following. Once they were on the plane, she could get her bag back, bid him goodbye and then settle in for fourteen straight hours of quality time with Naruto. She wouldn't have to see Sasuke again until they landed.

Relieved by the thought, Hinata began smiling again.

* * *

'_Problem solved_,' Sasuke thought to himself conversationally, a thin smile twisting on his face. That idiot Naruto had agreed easily to the seat change, apparently convinced that he'd gotten the better half of the bargain. If the moron wanted to spend the trip wedged between two screaming she-demons Sasuke wouldn't be the one to disillusion him with the truth. Instead, he'd reap the benefits of Naruto's mistake.

"_Final boarding call for Flight 243 to New York...Final boarding call for Flight 243 to New York..._"

"S-Sasuke-san, slow down, p-please!"

Sasuke didn't deign to respond to Hinata, who was scurrying along behind him, but stopped anyway.

"_Oof_!" was the sound the heiress made as she collided with his suddenly still backside.

Sasuke turned quickly, his hand outstretched to grab her before she fell down, but he was too late; her burgundy and gold uniform tie slipped out of his fingers as she plummeted and hit the terminal floor. He gave her landing a 6.0.

"Oww...," Hinata complained softly, rubbing her abused tush. With the unladylike way she was currently sitting, the Uchiha prodigy could practically see the outlines of a new bruise on her backside...it was going to look like an apple. How perfect.

With tremendous effort, Sasuke tore his attention away from the new blue and purple fruit, suddenly aware that he had been staring. "C'mon, Hyuuga," he commanded, hoping silently that she hadn't noticed the squeak in his voice. He offered a hand to help her up. "We have to board."

Hinata nodded in agreement and placed her dainty palm within his. "Y-Yes..."

"_The boarding for flight 243 to New York has now concluded...Have a nice day._"

Sudden alarm caused Sasuke to whip around and glare at the doors that led to their plane. They were closing.

"Shit!" he spat as he made a quick decision. He dropped down onto one knee next to Hinata, who was still scrambling to get upright, and took hold of one of her arms. "Give me your boarding pass," he demanded.

The heiress stared at him with wide moony eyes full of shock. Sasuke would have expected that same expression if he'd asked her to bear his children. "B-But, why – ? "

"Just do it!"

True to her nature, she handed it right over without any further complaints. He wondered briefly if the bear-my-children conversation would go the same way...

Without pausing to think too deeply on the ramifications of asking the teenaged heiress to procreate with him, he draped the arm that he still held captive over his shoulder and proceeded to grab hold of her waist. Finding her unsurprisingly light, he shifted her around so that she was arranged like a sack of potatoes, her torso and head dangling over his back. He could feel her long hair sweeping against the crooks in his knees.

"S-Sasuke-san, what are you – ?"

Ignoring the blind panic in her voice, Sasuke rose onto his feet, holding Hinata steady by the back of her knees. From this angle, he could see the forming bruise much clearer (was that a worm?). "Hang on," he said, more as a suggestion than a command.

"But – _aiiie_!" she cried, digging her fingers into the back of his blazer.

With the heiress over his shoulder and the boarding passes sticking out of his jacket pocket, Sasuke sprinted for the double doors that were almost completely closed. Would they even make it?

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, I know carrying her to the boarding area was TOTALLY unnecessary, but I don't care. It makes for a fun mental image XD And, hey, this is fanfiction; it's meant for cheap thrills.

Self-beta'd.

_. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) . _

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	4. Chapter 4 -- Takeoff

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and life-affirming make-out sessions.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

Don't look down!

* * *

**Chapter 4: **Takeoff

"S-Sasuke-san!" Hinata pled, her chin bouncing off the back of his blazer with each hurried step her captor took. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pretend there wasn't a cool breeze blowing against the backs of her exposed thighs. "P-Put me down!"

Sasuke ignored her and took a sharp swerve to the left. As they whizzed past it, Hinata snapped her eyes open and caught a glimpse of a luggage cart that the rushing teen had just barely avoided. "_Sasuke_!"

"Almost there," the boy huffed, making another dodge, then a weave, around some baffled tourists. They watched, quite alarmed, as the two high school students made their unorthadox rush to the closing gate. Hinata dug her fingernails deeper into the fabric of Sasuke's clothes and buried her burning face into his back.

"Did you see - ?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw it_ all _-"

"Right in the middle of the airport - "

"Dude, I totally saw her - "

" - calling security!"

The heiress was beginning to feel dizzy. Bobbing and darting across the terminal, swinging upside down with her nose only inches away from Sasuke's backside, and the burning humiliation of flashing her panties at the entire airport was enough to make any girl swoon. She was prepared to die from this experience at any moment.

The heiress, in a moment of overwhelming panic and embarrassment, tried to wriggle free. Bad idea.

"Aiiiee!" Hinata squealed, pinching her eyes shut as her world began to tilt sideways. Too late, the heiress realized that her landing wasn't going to be comfortable.

Luckily, Sasuke was holding on tighter than she had expected and managed to force her back into place with a single upward thrust of his shoulder. Grunting, Sasuke ordered, "Stop that."

"S-Sorry..."

Sasuke seemed to ignore her apology. "Almost there," he promised a few moments later, wheezing as he readjusted his hold on her legs. Having learned from the near-fall, Hinata resigned herself to being carried off like a caveman's prom date and dug her fingernails deeper into the back of Sasuke's blazer.

Hinata felt Sasuke slowing to a stop just before he shouted, "Wait!" Another few moments of awkward fumbling and he said, panting, "Here."

"Um...thank you. This way, please," responded a startled female voice. Hinata had to assume that it belonged to the person accepting boarding passes because, seconds later, Sasuke began to move again and they passed through a heavy metal door and emerged into a long, stark hallway.

There wasn't much scenery on the last leg of their trip, only an extended stretch of dirty blue carpeting and the heels of Sasuke's brown leather loafers as they scurried forward. She could both hear and feel her captor's chest heaving with the exertion of carrying both her and the luggage across the tarmac and, despite her normally friendly feelings toward her classmates, Hinata couldn't help but feel he deserved to struggle a little bit.

Feeling very much like a kidnapped princess waiting for a mushroom-loving plumber to come rescue her, the Hyuuga heiress began begging again. "S-Sasuke-san...please, p-put me down..."

"Almost there..."

"P-Please...m-my stomach hurts..."

Surprisingly, Sasuke responded to her pleas and, with a struggling grunt, began to lower her gently to the floor. Her toes touched the stiff carpeting a few moments later and, with her captor there to steady her, she managed to regain her own balance swiftly.

"Come on," Sasuke commanded, reaching out and taking a firm hold of her wrist. Hinata had no chance to protest or even catch her breath as he whisked her off again, this time allowing her to stumble along behind him on her own two feet.

The pace the Uchiha prodigy set was quick and difficult to keep up with. Hinata bumbled and tripped a few times before finally reaching the threshold of the actual airplane. They made it there just as the door was beginning to shut.

"Hey!" Sasuke called out, pounding his free fist on the door with only a slim crack left open.

A flight attendant pulled the door back, peeked out, and commented, "You just made it. Come on in." She stepped inside and out of their way to let them pass through.

Huffing only a little still, Sasuke thanked her and tugged sharply on Hinata's arm. They both entered the plane together and began struggling their way down the cramped aisle of seats. Peeking over Sasuke's shoulder, she noted that 12A was near the back of the cabin, right next to the lavatories.

"_Omigod_," a relieved-sounding voice commented. It was one of Sasuke's many nameless fangirls and she was standing to greet her crush with a gigantic, lipgloss-slathered smile from her seat. A number of other female students were leaning in from all sides to welcome Sasuke aboard, as well. "We were starting to worry that you'd gotten left behind! Iruka-sensei was about to send someone to look for you."

"Hn," Sasuke replied. With another yank on Hinata's arm, he dragged her further up the aisle and away from his cloying fanclub members. As they passed, the heiress noted how the fangirl's eyes latched on to the way Sasuke was clinging to her arm. Her painted smile drooped a little.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke, sweetums!"

This time, Ino and Sakura were both out of their seats, stumbling over the person in between them to reach Sasuke. They struggled across the lap of the person trapped in the middle, scratching adn clawing at each other as they did so. Sasuke took no notice of them at all.

The heiress looked back, pitying them for Sasuke's inattention, and her heart seized. Naruto was caught between the two bickering girls while they attempted to dig their manicured nails into each other's faces. "Augh! Geeze, cut it out, would ya? Hey – !"

"Get out of my way, Ino-pig!"

"You're the one in the aisle seat, bilboard-brow! _You_ get out of _my_ way!"

"So you can attack Sasuke-kun with your totally fake – Aiie! That_ hurts_!"

"_No hair pulling_!"

Iruka-sensei, their care-worn chaperone, lept to Uzumaki's rescue and tried to force Ino and Sakura back into their seats before the situation evolved into anything worse. The flight attendant at the top of the aisle stopped in the middle of her safety instructions and stared as the battle unfolded. Their second chaperone, Kakashi-sensei, ignored the scene and flipped another page in his book. There was a rosy tint to his cheeks as his eyes scanned the text.

Hinata eyes were still fixed on the war waging at the front of the plane when Sasuke made a full stop in the aisle. As a result, she collided with the Uchiha's back and nearly fell over backwards (again). How many times was she going to fall today? She was already bruised like an overipe fruit.

Sasuke didn't seem to notice the Hyuuga heiress' bumbling. "Do you want the window seat?"

"H-Huh?"

"The window seat," Sasuke repeated, drawing his words out slowly this time. Hinata stared at him, blinking dumbly as she tried to process his question. "Do you want it?"

"I th-thought you were sitting with Sakura-san and Ino-san?" Hinata pointed out, still baffled at the seating arrangements. Behind her, Ino and Sakura were still flinging childish insults at one another. She jumped and turned to observe when one of them screamed.

"Just wait! I'll throw you out of the plane into the ocean!"

"Try it, monkey-face!"

"For the love of – ouch! Stop it! I'm calling both of your parents as soon as – _put that down_!"

Some of the boys near the front of the plane had started chanting "Fight, fight, fight, fight!" while Iruka lifted Ino bodily off of Sakura and dragged her up the aisle. Naruto squatted down hold down his pink-haired crush when she showed signs of trying to follow.

A little perturbed at the scene, Hinata returned her attention to Sasuke, who, after finally releasing her arm, shrugged the carry-on luggage off of his shoulders and began stowing it in their overhead bin. He (while continuing to ignore the turmoil up front) explained simply, "I switched with the dobe. I didn't want to be trapped between those two" – he paused to nod up at the front where Ino was being deposited into a seat next to Shikimaru; the boy in question snorted awake when the flailing girl was practically thrown into his lap – "for fourteen hours. Naruto has a thing for Sakura, so we swapped. Now, do you want the window seat or not?"

Hinata's cheeks flamed up again at the mention of Naruto's infatuation with Sakura. Though Sasuke couldn't possibly have known about the heiress' secret feelings, it was hard to immediately forgive him for pointing out something that she preferred not to acknowledge.

Nodding silently, Hinata brushed past Sasuke and settled into the seat next to the window. Outside the plane, hazy gray clouds were beginning to form in the sky. Maybe this trip wouldn't be so much fun, after all.

* * *

Sasuke plopped down into the aisle seat – a good distance away from Hinata, who didn't seem to be in the mood for closer proximity – just as the "fasten seatbelts" sign flickered on. It flashed several times with a "ping, ping, ping."

Sasuke groped around behind him for the safety harness, but wasn't having any luck locating it. The sign beeped more insistently as the engines began to rev and vibrate beneath them.

"Damn it," the Uchiha swore, standing and swirling around for a better look. No seatbelt.

"Please take your seat, sir," a flight attendant warned. It was the same one who had announced the safety instructions and she looked pretty grim. Sasuke's best guess was that she didn't want anymore catastrophe's after that squabble between Ino and Sakura. "We're taking off."

Sasuke waved at her to signal that he understood. "Hang on. I can't find my - "

"_Now_, sir."

Grumbling, Sasuke shifted his line of sight to the seat next to him, the one in the middle. There was a seatbelt in that one.

Turning back around so that he could collapse into the plush cushions, Sasuke lowered himself down and strapped in. He could feel Hinata inching away from him and promised himself to move over once they were in the air.

Closing his eyes tight and digging his blunt nails into the armrests, Sasuke braced himself for takeoff. No big deal.

The plane shuddered and jerked as it started moving away from the safety of the airport terminal. Sasuke rationalized that these contraptions probably did that all the time, that it meant nothing and that he was perfectly safe, but the rough beginning left him with a feeling of unease. If this thing was so unsturdy on the ground, how would it hold up in the air?

The Uchiha forced these thoughts to the furthest corners of his mind and drew in a deep breath to calm himself. He just had to focus, that was all. Focus on the soft hum of the engines...the quiet murmurings of the people around him...Hinata's steady breathing...the beeping sign...the groaning metal...that horribly chilling squeal of the gears...

"S-Sasuke-san? Are you alright?"

"Fine," Sasuke replied, though his fisted hands trembled visibly. He struggled to refocus his mind on something more calming. When the wheels hit something, causing the plane to jump a little, he tried to ignore the way his organs squirmed inside him. "Just...relaxing."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, in, out, in, out, in, out...

"Are...are you sure you're okay? You're b-breathing a little hard..."

Sasuke wanted to reply, but found his tongue suddenly seized and immobile; the nose of the plane was tipping upwards.

Oh, gods. _This was it_.

On instinct, Sasuke reached out and grabbed hold of the closest living thing for support. He heard Hinata "eep" quietly as his clammy palm squeezed her hand and held on. The Uchiha's tension was rising with every invisible step the plane seemed to climb. It was too late to turn back.

Finally, the plane leveled out and the turbulence lessened. They were in the air.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hahaha...I love it when guys have little phobias. It's sort of cute.

Self-beta'd.

_. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) . _

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	5. Chapter 5 -- Unfasten Seatbelts

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and life-affirming make-out sessions.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

* * *

**Chapter 5: **Unfasten Seatbelts

Though Hinata knew that she should jerk her hand away from Sasuke, – half the plane was buzzing about their dramatic entrance as it was – she couldn't hep but take pity on him. She never would have guessed that the famously cool and aloof Uchiha was scared of a little thing like flying but, she supposed, everyone was allowed an irrational fear or two. Hinata had several, so she really shouldn't begrudge Sasuke _one_.

Once the plane had leveled out and began flying a smoother course, Sasuke began to visibly relax. He kept vigilant hold of her hand and refused to open his eyes, but his breathing was beginning to slow to a more steady pace and his skin took on a healthier pallor. She rather hoped that they didn't experience much turbulence on this flight.

Hinata kept silent while Sasuke fought off the last vestiges of his panic, even allowing him to hold onto her hand until he felt like releasing it (assuming, of course, that he didn't intend to cling to her for the entire flight). She wiggled her fingers a bit, hoping that he might be inspired to let her go, but the Uchiha only gripped her tighter; apparently, he wasn't yet ready to give up on the comfort that holding her hand afforded him. She leaned into her seat and heaved a soft sigh.

After a few minutes, the "fasten seatbelts" sign pinged again and turned off. Over the intercom, a soft feminine voice announced that they were all free to move about the cabin.

Maybe this was her chance to free herself. Hinata turned her head a little so that she could see her seat partner; his eyes were still shut and his jaw remained tightly clenched. "Sasuke-san...?"

"Mm...," Sasuke replied without moving.

"Um...," Hinata paused, lowering her voice to a more soothing register. "W-We can unfasten our seatbelts now. Did you want to – ?"

Sasuke shook his head vehemently and clutched tighter at her hand. Hinata winced; when they landed in New York, she was sure she would have yet another bruise as a souvenir.

"Sasuke-san...," Hinata cooed, reaching over with her free hand to pry at his fingers. "Y-You're hurting me. You need to let go..."

Sasuke didn't respond verbally, but the pressure on Hinata's hand lessened. Their fingers remained intertwined, but at least the blood could circulate through her tingling digits again.

"Are you afraid of flying?"

Sasuke shook his head in the negative. Hinata surmised that he was fibbing a little.

"Okay...but you don't like it very much, do you?"

Again, Sasuke shook his head. Closer to the truth this time.

"Do you feel sick?"

Another negative. Well, small blessings; Hinata wasn't sure if she could handle a sick classmate. She wasn't particularly comfortable around bodily fluids (one of those aforementioned irrational fears that she kept to herself), which severely disappointed her father. No medical school for his eldest.

Hinata nibbled indecisively at her lower lip as she considered what to say next. It should be something comforting. "Ah...um..."

"I'm not scared, Hyuuga," Sasuke informed her. Hinata jumped a little, not expecting him to actually say anything to her.

"Eh?" the heiress replied. She blinked at him a couple of times, collecting the pieces of their conversation together and trying to assemble them. She was still not sure what had prompted him to speak.

With his eyes still closed, eyelashes trapped between his clenched lids, he said, "I'm not scared. Of flying, that is."

"O-Oh...of course not." Hinata would play along if that's what he wanted. Maybe agreeing with everything he said – thus reestablishing some semblance of control – would make him relax a little. Besides, it was very possible (or even probable) that he wasn't saying these things for her; perhaps he was trying to convince himself. "I believe you."

Sasuke snorted a little at her. Had she not seemed sincere enough? "I just don't like planes," he continued, the muscles in his shoulders beginning to tense again. The grip he had on her hand tightened a bit. "They're flimsy and unreliable. Flying death traps."

"N-No...," Hinata attempted to placate him by lowering her voice to a cooing whisper. "That's not true. W-We're perfectly safe..."

Clearly, her words weren't having their desired effect. Hinata observed Sasuke as all of the symptoms of panic – tense posture, labored breathing, a strained pitch in his voice – all began to resurface. If he continued to dwell on his fear much longer, Hinata was sure that he would work himself into some kind of fit.

Feeling a discomforting surge of anxiety herself, the heiress levied her body upwards – Sasuke still clinging desperately to her hand – until she could see above the heads of all the passengers in front of her. She scanned the cabin in search of the chaperones, hoping to flag one of them down and enlist them for help. Behind her, the Uchiha was beginning to hyperventilate.

No luck. Now that they were free to move about the cabin, Iruka-sensei had pulled both Ino and Sakura to their feet and dragged them up to the front of the plane, just outside of the cockpit. Hinata could hear him berate and threaten the two girls – "Do you have _any_ idea how stupid that was? Not only could you have hurt one of your fellow students, but the crew could have asked us all to deplane! Do you want to be the one to explain to the school and all the parents why we never made it to New York?" – and they, to their credit, looked shameful. Though, every so often, Hinata would catch one or the other of them casting a secret glare at her archenemy.

Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be of any help, either. He was so immersed in his novel that he hardly acknowledged the stewardess when she asked for his drink order. She ended up wheeling the cart away in defeat after thirty-something seconds and moving on to the next passenger.

Helplessly, Hinata flicked her gaze back to Sasuke. She was disturbed to see that, in addition to the heavy breathing, his color had left him completely, turning his face a milky white. She hoped that planes still had barf bags in every seat.

As she lowered herself back down into a sitting position, Hinata tried, again, to be soothing. Putting her captured hand to good use, she began stroking small circles against the Uchiha's knuckles. "W-We're going to be just fine, Sasuke-san. P-People hardy ever die in plane crashes."

Unluckily, the plane chose that moment to shudder a little. Most of the other passengers hardly seemed to notice, but Hinata could feel Sasuke reaffirm the grip on her hand. Perfect.

"M-My...parents...," Sasuke stammered between heaving breaths, bouncing up and down with the motion of the plane. "They...died in...plane...crash..."

Hinata could feel some of the color drain out of her own face. Oh, gods...how could she have forgotten? The Uchiha clan was famous for their bad luck with small aircraft. Before he was even born, Sasuke's grandfather had been a kamikaze pilot during the second world war. Twenty-something years later, an uncle had gone down in a commercial flight on his way to Hawaii. When Sasuke was only seven, his parents had been killed while out flying their own plane, leaving their two sons to fend for themselves in the world. Some said the Uchihas were cursed.

Guilt began wiggling like caterpillars deep in her stomach. No wonder Sasuke hated planes; his fear was less irrational and more justified when a person considered his family's history. Hinata didn't particularly believe in curses, but the coincidences were, admittedly, startling.

"I-I-I..." The heiress couldn't think of a single thing to say. Instead, she instinctively brought her free palm to rest over Sasuke's clenching fist. It trembled beneath her fingers and she rubbed soothingly against his skin. Slow, steady circles, round and round...

Hinata wasn't sure if her ministrations or the leveling plane could take the credit, but Sasuke began to visibly relax again. He was breathing through his nose again – ...in...out...in...out... – and the trembling was now nothing more than a slight vibration. Though his eyes still didn't open, his face was less clenched and more placid. He was almost back to normal.

Hinata heard a soft rattling noise and looked up to see the flight attendants working their way down the aisles distributing drinks. The heiress returned her attention to Sasuke and asked, "W-Would you like something to drink?"

Sasuke didn't respond for a moment, but then nodded. Slowly.

Finally, some progress. "What would you like?"

Sasuke murmured something that Hinata couldn't quite understand. When she asked him to repeat himself, he coughed a little and replied, "...Water."

"Okay," said Hinata, leaning back in her seat to wait their turn. She sighed again and the warm whoosh of air ruffled her bangs. This was going to be a very long flight.

* * *

Had Sasuke been less petrified, he would have felt terribly humiliated at the fuss he was currently making. He was acting like a scared little girl, a yellow-bellied coward, and relying on the most timid person he knew for comfort. Deep in Sasuke's consciousness, he knew that he would never live this down.

Still, he trusted that Hinata wouldn't judge him too harshly for being such a pansy. She wasn't really the type to tease and, more than that, her voice seemed to hold traces of sincere sympathy over the plight of his family "curse." If Sasuke could count on anyone from his class to be discreet and understanding, it was probably Hinata. (Though, with girls, he could never be too sure.)

"What would you like to drink?" someone – undoubtedly the stewardess – asked.

Hinata, politely, answered for the both of them. "Water, please. For the both of us."

There was a soft crunch, a sharp snap of plastic, and the hard splash of water over ice. Moments later, he felt Hinata reach over him, one of her hands still trapped within his, and she drew back. She repeated this motion a second time and Sasuke was forced to assume that she had accepted his drink for him.

"Is he alright?"

"Oh...," Hinata paused and, though his eyes were closed, Sasuke could practically see the indecision on her pretty features. "Um, he's...sleeping."

"That's nice," said the flight attendant. "Some people get so nervous about flying. I'm glad your boyfriend is relaxed enough to sleep."

Sasuke felt Hinata's hand tighten around his fingers. "H-He's not my..." the heiress trailed off as the cart rattled away and the attendant addressed the next person in line. "...boyfriend."

Suddenly, the beating of Sasuke's heart became erratic again. He was annoyed.

He didn't know what compelled him to finally open his eyes at this moment, but when he did he found a timid and embarrassed Hinata in his line of sight. Feeling insulted, Sasuke's "Thank you" was a little bitter on his tongue.

Hinata didn't seem to notice. "You're welcome," she replied sullenly, leaning back into her seat and closing her eyes.

Feeling suddenly ungrateful, Sasuke snatched his hand away and crossed his arms over his chest. This was going to be a very long flight.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I didn't have the little part in there about Sasuke's family at first, but I thought maybe it was a nice touch. There's no room for Itachi vengeance, – unless someone makes a case for plane tampering, lolz – but it at least explains a little about why our boy Sasuke is so petrified of flying. It also kinda parallels the Uchihas with the Kennedys which, I think, is kinda interesting...

Anyway, we're about halfway to the end now. You can feel free to walk around the cabin!

Self-beta'd.

_. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) . _

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	6. Chapter 6 -- Mile High Club

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **R (M) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and some inappropriate public behavior.  
**Disclaimer:** _Please store your tray tables in the upright position and_ ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke _hated_ flying. SasuHina.

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW RATING! I went a little too far for PG-13/T...Still site-safe, but minimize the screen if your parents come in.

* * *

**Chapter 6: **Mile High Club

Five hours into their flight, Hinata yawned. A few tears of fatigue and boredom welled up in her iridescent eyes and blurred the text of her book. She covered her mouth with the back of a demure hand – which, luckily, hadn't bruised like she'd anticipated – and stretched her aching shoulders.

Settling back down again, Hinata ignored her novel and cast her eyes about the plane cabin. A few of the students from her class seemed bored like her, others were enjoying each others' company and causing as much ruckus as they dared, and some were even watching the terrible in-flight movie. (How would snakes even get on a mother-bleeping plane, anyway?)

Naruto and Kiba, having apparently patched things up after their little spat in the terminal, were throwing a squishy foam football over the heads of the other passengers in a rowdy (if ill-advised) game of catch. Iruka-sensei was doing his best to put a stop to these shenanigans, Kakashi-sensei was still paying rapt attention to his book, and the flight attendants were keeping a wary eye on the foamy projectile soaring around the cabin. Hinata smiled and enjoyed the scene while it lasted.

"Oh, for the love of...BOYS! Put that thing away and _sit down_!" Iruka pled, rising out of his seat and facing the turmoil. Her poor teacher looked ready to throw himself out of the plane without a parachute just to escape them all.

Kiba deftly caught the yellow ball in a triumphant fist. "Yes! Suck on that, Naru-tard!"

Naruto shimmied out of his seat as the projectile flew toward the front of the cabin, putting himself in its way. Sakura – who was still stuck with him as a seat partner – squealed indignantly when he trod on her foot on his way past. "Augh! Kiba, you bastard! I _hate_ that name!"

"_Stop_!"

The boys threw the ball back and forth three more times before Naruto, flailing wildly to intercept the squishy ball, tumbled backwards and into the cockpit door. He didn't seem hurt, thank goodness, but Iruka took the opportunity to confiscate the contraband ball and banish the boys back to their seats.

"I swear to all the gods and the school board, if you don't stay in your seat_ for the rest of the flight_ I'm going to – " Iruka continued ranting loudly for a solid five minutes before stowing the toy under his seat and sitting down. Naruto and Kiba, never terribly familiar with the concept of remorse, grinned at each other across the cabin.

Hinata smiled as Kiba resumed his seat in front of her and began ranting to his seat partner, Shino. For his part, the bespectacled boy refrained from participating in the conversation and simply allowed Kiba to vent, whine and moan. "...no sense of humor. We were just having a bit of fun..."

Hinata listened in on the one-sided conversation for a few minutes, contentedly enjoying the vicarious thrill of rowdy youth. She continued to do so until an uncomfortable tingling sensation overcame her. She squirmed a little in her seat, readjusted her legs, and tried to ignore the feeling, but it just wouldn't go away. She had to pee.

Turning to glance at her own partner, she found him to be asleep. After letting her go, Sasuke had (thankfully) moved into the seat closer to the aisle and settled into a more relaxed stance. His arms were crossed over his chest, his knees propped up on the seat in front of him (Shino didn't seem to mind), and his eyes were closed. With his earbuds pressed deeply into his ear canal and his MP3 player turned up high enough that she could hear the music, Sasuke had effectively tuned out the world.

Hinata certainly didn't mind. Though she found herself occasionally missing the conversation she might have shared with Naruto, she had no urge to bother the dour Uchiha. Keeping him calm was one thing, keeping him company completely another.

Still, she needed to get around him and to the lavatory sometime in the very near future. It wasn't ladylike to squirm and bounce a tinkle dance, especially while wearing a skirt and _most_ especially while surrounded by gentlemen.

"Um...Sasuke-san?" Hinata whispered. She received the response she should have reasonably expected; nothing. She tried again, this time with the prod of a finger. "Sasuke-san?" Still no response.

Well, she'd just have to work around him, then. Unbuckling her seatbelt, Hinata climbed slowly to her feet and began inching toward the Uchiha prodigy.

Now, how could she perform this task gracefully? She supposed the simplest and most direct course was to shake him awake and ask him politely to move. Figuring Sasuke was probably grumpy when he woke up and reminding herself that she'd had enough of his sour attention for one day, Hinata nixed that idea immediately.

Reaffirming her decision that it was best to simply climb over him, Hinata swiveled around so that she was facing the seats and steadied her palms against the cool fabric of the headrests. Lifting the leg closest to her exit, she slowly and tenderly reached it over Sasuke – who was still slumbering like a dark, glowering baby – and dropped it to the carpet on the other side. She was effectively straddling the grumpy Uchiha, but Hinata chose not to think about that.

Suddenly, the plane jumped and Hinata lost her balance. Her knees buckled and she fell forward, distributing all of her weight directly into the seat in front of her. Unluckily, that same seat happened to be occupied.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes in the wake of the brief turbulence just as Hinata tumbled into his lap. He reflexively reached up and braced her fall, each hand cupped around the base of her ribcage. Blinking the spots out of his sleepy eyes, the Uchiha did his best to focus on what was happening. "Hyuuga...?"

Hinata flushed a light scarlet and began stammering. "Ah...um...I n-n-needed to use the b-bathroom, and – "

Another jarring buck by the plane and the heiress was pitched further forward, her torso pressed flat against him. Woah, she was _stacked_. Sasuke, though startled and uncomfortable, couldn't help but note that all of their necessary parts lined up just right.

Within the thick veil of Hinata's indigo hair, she was blushing brighter than he'd yet seen. Practically glowing in the dark, even. After having watched her moon over Naruto, catching a glimpse of her panties in public, and even carrying her across the terminal like a neanderthal, he still had yet to see this amount of blood rush to her face. He dimly wondered if she was going to pass out.

Sasuke took a moment to gather his composure before asking, "Are you alright, Hyuuga?"

She squirmed a little in his lap and he tried to force his body to ignore the motion. "Nngh...," a groan bubbled up out of his throat involuntarily.

Hinata squirmed a little harder, rocking back and forth in hard, gyrating motions. Ah, geeze...not _now_. Whether he was interested in dating or not, he was still a pubescent male with an attractive female on top of him; it was his body's natural imperative to take advantage of this situation, no matter how inappropriate the situation.

"Hinata," he begged, biting down hard on his lip as she stumbled again and smacked him in the face with her grandly proportioned breasts. "Stop moving."

"Eh? B-But..." Hinata paused, possibly startled at the use of her given name, and looked down at him. With her lips parted and her cheeks cherry-red, she looked ready for something naughty.

Sasuke forcefully banished this thought from his mind as his inflating penis gave a little twitch. He hoped that Hinata hadn't felt that. Quietly, he explained, "You're...I'm starting to..."

Hinata bowed her head a little and directed her line of sight to his lap. Then, she really began to panic. "S-S-Sasuke-san!"

Augh, hadn't he just told her not to move? Sasuke inhaled a sharp hiss through his teeth as Hinata renewed her efforts in extracting herself from their predicament. In an attempt to halt her motions, the Uchiha lowered his hands down to her hips and did his best to hold them still. "Stop, just let me – "

"Hey!" Kiba's voice barked. Through Hinata's hair and over her shoulder, he could see the hound and his bespectacled cohort leaning over the back of their seats to observe what was happening between him and the heiress. "What the hell are you doing, man?"

Fuck. "None of your business. Turn back around," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes into the most deadly glare he knew. Kiba was unimpressed.

"Like hell I will!" the hound cried, struggling to get around Shino and into the aisle. "Get your pervy hands off of her, you disgusting – nasty – "

Now that they had caught some attention, the heiress was beginning to panic. Mirroring his own symptoms from the beginning of the trip, Hinata's breathing quickened, her chest heaved, and her muscles tensed around him. Sasuke winced a little as her squirming renewed – this time with more fervor – as she tried to push herself back up into a more dignified position. Unfortunately, pushing her hands against the headrest of the seat only drove her hips further forward and onto Sasuke's growing problem.

Oh, geeze. She _had_ to feel it now. Fuck.

Either because of innocence or sheer alarm, Hinata seemed to be ignoring the inflation between her parted thighs. Sasuke, meanwhile, found it impossible to overlook; without consciously willing it, his hips were beginning to gyrate in time with her rhythm.

With an undignified groan and a soft gasp of air, Sasuke retook control of his eager body and forced it to hold still. He clenched his jaw tight and tried to focus.

One Mississippi...

Hinata managed to lean all the way back, her skirt inching up her pale thighs. The little apple bruise on her backside was becoming slowly visible.

...Two Mississippi...

Kiba and Shino were coming around to help, thank gods. Hinata reached out for them and grabbed hold, momentarily thrusting her cotton-covered breasts onto his nose.

..._Three Mississippi_...

Then, a button popped open on her blouse and Sasuke lost count.

"What's going on back here?" It was Iruka's voice this time and it sounded desperate and tired. Oh, _perfect_.

"She tripped, Sensei," Kiba began to explain as he and Shino both grabbed hold of Hinata's arms and began pulling her away from Sasuke.

"She...," Iruka paused incredulously. One of his eyebrows began to twitch spasmodically. "...tripped?"

It was at this point that Hinata began to cry. Fat, heavy crocodile tears erupted from her eyes and dripped off her chin onto Sasuke's shirt. Her wails grabbed the ears of everyone who was not yet watching the spectacle unfold, putting their impromptu little rendezvous at the center of everyone's undivided attention.

Hinata seemed unaware that she was being watched by every pair of eyes on the plane and Sasuke counted them both lucky for that. Exacerbating the tension that had been slowly accumulating in his groin, a strong surge of guilt caused the Uchiha to involuntarily squirm under Hinata.

Hinata's weight was finally lifted clear of Sasuke's lap and redistributed on her own feet. She leaned in to Kiba, who blushed and fidgeted awkwardly, and sobbed into his chest. As soon as the girl finally collapsed into her friend's waiting arms, the Uchiha leaned forward to cover anything that needed to be hidden.

Iruka clamped a palm to his face, his eyes closed in weariness. "You know what, I don't really want to know...Are you okay, Hinata-chan?"

Sasuke tilted his face so that he could watch Hinata as she answered. She nodded silently, her face still hidden in the collar of Kiba's shirt. The boy was attempting to soothe her with a pat on the head and a few whispered words of comfort.

"Okay...well, go...wash your face, or something," Iruka suggested, probably at a loss for anything else.

Hinata nodded again and extracted herself from Kiba's grasp. Tugging at the hem of her skirt, she wobbled down the aisle toward the lavatory and disappeared behind the locked door.

Ignoring the whispers of the people around him and the chilled glare of the hound, Sasuke sighed and renewed his focus on deflating his "problem."

_One Mississippi_...

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well...I guess I let this one get away from me. Too much smut for PG-13/T, so I upped the rating to R/M. The real sex is coming up next, though...

I will NOT be posting the full lemon here on ffnet. Though I don't particularly agree with the policies against NC-17/MA material, I will still follow the guidelines as laid out by the site. Instead, I'll post the full version someplace else and direct anyone/everyone who wants it with a link.

In response to "SasuHina" who commented on Chapter 5, there's no particular reason why they Uchiha have bad luck with aircraft just as there's no particular reason why the Kennedys seem to; it's just back luck/coincidence. The "curse" is only included to partially explain his fear of planes/flying. I hope that answers your question (assuming you're still reading this, lolz). Sorry for the confusion!

See you soon!

Self-beta'd.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	7. Chapter 7 -- A Bumpy Ride

**Title: **Turbulence  
**Rating: **R (M) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and some inappropriate public behavior.  
**Disclaimer:** Please store your tray tables in the upright position and ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke hated flying. SasuHina.

Okay, all you youngsters leave the room! This ride's about to get bumpy...

* * *

**Chapter 7:** A Bumpy Ride

Hinata squatted on the bathroom floor in a shuddering ball, tears spilling freely onto her folded legs. She wrapped her arms around her knees, keeping them firmly closed, and leaned against the wall. She huddled up in the cramped space while the torrent of agony surged forth.

She felt so ashamed! What would her father say when word got back to him about this debauchery? How could she explain that it had been an accident and that she'd been at the mercy of heartless gravity? No one would believe that...

The worst shame of all, though, was that her loins still hadn't stopped throbbing. Which meant that somehow, in some way, she had liked it. Did that make her a slut? A trollop? A wonton hussy ready to climb aboard any man with the proper equipment to satisfy her urges?

Hinata raised her head from her knees, hiccuping as a sob got stuck in her throat. She wanted to blame Sasuke for everything that had gone wrong, – from stealing her luggage to breaking her away from Naruto to making her feel these humiliating sensations – but, logically speaking, she really couldn't. Her embarrassment, shame and anger all pointed at him as the culprit for her misery, but she knew, deep down, that some of this was her fault, too. If she'd tried harder to wake him up before attempting to climb over him...if she'd been a little faster at the terminal...

The more she thought about it, the more her usual inclination to blame herself took over. Sasuke was probably blameless in this whole mess and Hinata was probably the one messing everything up. She was slow and clumsy and weak while he was fast and agile and strong; it only made sense that she was the one at fault. Besides, hadn't he warned her to stop moving before things got out of control?

Instead of taking this practical and very necessary advice, the heiress had continued to...gyrate on top of him until, truth be told, she couldn't bring herself to stop. She told – nay, commanded – her body to cease and desist several times, but when Sasuke had grabbed hold of her hips and held her against him...oh...

Hinata buried her burning face in her hands and began to sob again. If Kiba and Shino hadn't bodily pulled her away, there was at least a half decent chance that the spectacle would have gotten worse.

Hinata reached up and clutched her fists at the side of her head, eyes squeezed shut and teeth grinding together. She was almost out of tears, but still full of self-pity. She couldn't bring herself to leave the bathroom, not until they were safely in New York. How many hours left...?

...a little over nine. Maybe no one would have to pee for awhile.

A loud rumble caught Hinata's attention and she opened her eyes, gazing up at the ceiling as if she could see through it to the source of the disturbance. Was that thunder?

Another loud proclamation from the sky – this one more of a boom than a rumble – seemed to confirm her suspicions.

"All passengers, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts. We're going to be experiencing a bit of turbulence."

Hinata, realizing that her time in seclusion was up, stumbled to her feet and reached for the sink. She turned on the water and filled her cupped hands to the brim with cool, refreshing liquid.

There was a sharp rap on the door. "Miss?" It was the stewardess. "Are you alright in there?"

Hinata wiped the water out of her eyelashes before answering, "Y-Yes...I'm fine."

"I'm going to have to ask you to take your seat now. The pilot has turned on the 'fasten seatbelts' sign," the attendant said.

Her face dry, though still obviously splotchy, Hinata reached over and unlocked the door. On the other side, just as she'd suspected, the stewardess waited for her to emerge. "S-Sorry...I'm coming."

The woman pulled her forward and closed the bathroom door behind her. Shooing her up the aisle toward her assigned seat, she said, "Quickly, quickly...we've hit a storm."

Hinata, rushed against her will, felt the shameful blush creep back into her face and neck as the spiked tips of Sasuke's famous hairstyle appeared over his headrest. "Um...c-can I sit somewhere else? I don't want to...I, uh..."

The flight attendant continued to rush her forward. "No, I'm sorry, but right now everyone needs to take their seats. You can switch once we've gotten around the turbulence."

She stopped at the entrance to Hinata's row of seats. Sasuke had moved back to the middle slot again in favor of the chair with the seatbelt and the heiress quivered at the prospect of having to sit in such close proximity to him.

"Take your seat," the attendant reminded her, giving Hinata a firm nudge in the right direction.

Hinata, having no other choice, inched her way forward, this time with her back to Sasuke. She kept her hands on the headrest of Kiba's seat and her eyes on Sasuke the entire time, wary of another tumble. The Uchiha prodigy was in his favorite stance again; eyes shut tight, jaw clenched and fingernails digging grooves into the armrests.

The heiress released a shuddering breath once she was safely deposited back into her seat. Once she was buckled in safely, the stewardess walked briskly back up the aisle and took her own seat.

Sasuke made no comment at her return which, she supposed, was a symptom of his growing agitation. The thunder was beginning to crackle and boom in quick succession and, now that Hinata was back at her window, she could see the lightning flaring up after each crash. The clouds had turned dark and unfriendly and the wind was shuffling them back and forth like a cat batting around a mouse.

Hinata leaned deeply into her chair and tried to block out the storm. She'd been through turbulence before, no big deal...it would probably pass in a few minutes and they would be in clear skies again. Surely they weren't in any real danger...

"One Mississippi..."

A particularly strong gust of wind sent the plane rocketing to the left and some of the passengers, mainly girls, screamed. Hinata could hear a few of them whimpering.

The heiress continued her counting, murmuring her numbers aloud. They were beginning to calm her.

"Two Mississippi..."

Up and down, up and down. Back and forth. Up and down. The wind was still playing with them and Hinata, in a moment of hysteria, wondered if it was going to devour them soon.

Shifting her eyes toward the aisle, Hinata observed how Sasuke was handling the turbulence. What she saw quite alarmed her; instead of keeping his eyes closed and his teeth clenched together, the Uchiha was staring straight ahead with his eyelids open as far as they would go. His pupils were constricted to the size of pinpricks in fear and his breathing was coming out of his open mouth in erratic pants. He was plainly terrified.

Hinata had the dire compulsion to comfort him again. Considering their recent foray into almost-indecent exposure, however, she sat on her hands and kept them far away from Sasuke.

"Three Mississippi..."

Hinata looked down to his hands. They were grasping mercilessly at the armrests, tense and white, and some of the fabric was starting to come away from the metal. Still, he kept them to himself instead of reaching out for her again. Hinata wondered if this was his attempt to respect her space after what had just happened between them, or if it simply hadn't occurred to him that she had returned from the bathroom.

"Four Mississippi..."

Another jarring bolt flung Hinata into the window, bouncing her head against the double-thick glass. Through the hazy fog, she could hear more passengers screaming. The lights flickered.

"F...Five...Mississippi...?"

When the oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, Hinata finally felt a real surge of dread.

"S-S-Sasuke...!"

* * *

Sasuke didn't respond to Hinta's pleas for consolation, he couldn't. They were about to die and he couldn't stop it. This was what he hated most about flying; there was no control over their fate. If the damn plane crashed, that was it. No limping away from that. No hoping that they would make it out alive. They were just dead.

No amount of counting was going to help him now. The plane weaved back and forth, up and down, everywhere but straight. The lights were failing, the oxygen masks were deployed, and the pilot was begging all of the screaming passengers to stay calm.

They were all going to die. They were all going to die. Die, die, die, die, die!

Instead of his life flashing before his eyes, – like all the movies suggested would happen – Sasuke instead lingered on the things he was never going to get to do. He was never going to graduate high school...get into his top-choice college...never even going to see New York. He'd never get married. Never rebuild his family. Never see the blue sky again...

Worst of all, he was going to die a virgin. Sex just hadn't been worth the risk until now; all those fangirls with all those expectations had been daunting. He'd abstained from physical intimacy altogether for fear that he would find himself trapped in a relationship that he didn't want. The closest he'd ever gotten was when Hinata had tripped over him half an hour ago (and, admittedly, that had been pretty damn close). Now, he was kind of regretting that he hadn't at least taken advantage of the one opportunity that had (quite literally) fallen into his lap...

Sasuke jumped, startled, when he felt a hard pressure descend upon his hand. He whipped his head around to see Hinata reaching out for him and baring down tightly on his fingers. She was looking back, clearly afraid, and begging for some form of comfort.

Sasuke could think of only one thing that might help them both.

Without pausing to worry about consequences, or regrets, or obligations, the Uchiha prodigy untangled their hands and lifted the armrest that kept them separated. Hinata looked horrified for a moment, but Sasuke ignored that, too. Reaching out for her with both hands, he cupped her cheeks in them and pulled her forward. His lips met hers halfway.

Time to make up for missed opportunities.

The Hyuuga heiress was stiff and unresponsive to Sasuke's wild, unrestrained kiss, but he didn't care. It wasn't like they were going to live through this to regret it later, anyway, and feeling Hinata's short, quick breaths on his cheek was at least partially soothing. Feeling something alive between his palms and against his lips was invigorating.

The plane continued to buck wildly as the pair remained locked together. Sasuke pulled back a couple of times to take in a breath of air and reposition himself more comfortably, but Hinata remained in the same frozen position throughout all of it. Sasuke still didn't care; he would be selfish in his last moments, damn it!

The third time Sasuke pulled his lips away to breathe, Hinata lurched forward and resumed the contact herself. Surprised, the Uchiha's eyes flew open for an instant; his partner's lids were closed and she was leaning in. He could feel her hands gripping the fabric of his shirt and pulling him closer. Happily, he obliged and dropped his hands down to her hips so that he could pull her against him.

Without awaiting permission, Sasuke forced her mouth open with his and dug his tongue in deep. Hinata made a little squeal in the back of her throat, but seemed willing enough; after a moment, her tongue found its way into his mouth, as well. It brushed lightly against the inside of his cheeks and tickled the roof of his mouth, exploring further and further.

Sasuke was now only dimly aware of the chaos around him. The other passengers screamed and whimpered – the oxygen masks swayed back and forth from the ceiling – the lights flashed both inside and outside the plane – and he was unbuckling his seatbelt to drag himself ever closer to Hinata.

There. He could die happy.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Okay, here's the sanitized version of chapter 7. If you'd like to read the full lemon-flavored version, please redirect yourself to my DeviantArt page (psudonym: megaminoeien).

Copy/Paste this link into your browser and remove the spaces:

megaminoeien . deviantart art / Turbulence - Chapter - 7 - 334707006

I _was_ going to include this story/chapter on Adultfanfictionnet, too, but that website's coding is beyond shitty. It took me a solid twenty minutes to figure out how to sign up for a profile, another thirty to find which button I needed to push to upload a story (it's not clearly explained when you join, for the record), and then a good hour-and-a-fucking-half to add four chapters to it (for various frustrating reasons). I ended up deleting the entire goddamn thing and abandoning the idea. Say what you want about ffnet, but at least I don't want to bash my head in every time I upload something. Fuck AFF (and not in the hot way).

Self-beta'd.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


	8. Chapter 8 -- Lights Out

**Title:** Turbulence  
**Rating:** R (M) – for mild swearing (those damn teenagers) and some inappropriate public behavior.  
**Disclaimer:** Please store your tray tables in the upright position and ! #$ OFF! I claim nothing.

**Summary:** AU. Sasuke_ hated_ flying. SasuHina.

Let's put down the landing gear and end this puppy...

* * *

**Chapter 8:** Lights Out

Hinata's chest heaved as Sasuke pulled out and rolled away from her. He landed in his own seat with a gentle grunt and was silent.

That was...

...had been...

..._wow_.

The cabin still shuddered as the storm raged on, but Hinata felt at peace. Instead of seeming daunting, the swaying oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling put her into some kind of relaxed trance. A few people were crying, or screaming, and the wind howled angrily against her window, but it was almost as if someone had turned the volume way down on the entire scene.

The heiress' body thrummed and vibrated in the wake of her tryst with Sasuke. She could still feel his lips against her face, his hands roaming her body, his..._self _inside of her. Hinata shivered again as she remembered how he'd lifted her leg and –

Startled away from her improper thoughts, Hinata felt Sasuke's cool fingers make contact with her fevered skin. Lowering her drooping gaze down to her hand, she found it conjoined again with the Uchiha's, their digits tangled together haphazardly. He had woven their fingers together, loosely this time, and was holding on fast.

Hinata allowed her eyes to slowly wander up his arm, over his shoulder, and finally come to a stop at Sasuke's face. He wasn't looking at her – had his eyes closed again, in fact – but she knew he had reached out to keep them together. Just a little longer.

Closing her own eyes, Hinata inched closer to her seat partner and rested her weary head against his shoulder. The blood rushing through the heiress' veins was beginning to cool, her heart slowing down to a restful pace. She breathed in a deep gulp of air and released her breath slowly.

Peeling her heavy eyelids apart just a little, Hinata took one last glance up at Sasuke before leaving herself to Morpheus ( 1 ). He was already deep within the god's embrace and snoring lightly. Hinata didn't bother to repress a warm smile as she leaned up and pecked the slumbering Uchiha on the cheek. She then rearranged them both so that his arm was draped over her shoulder and her ear was pressed comfortably over his heart. More cozy this way, Hinata closed her eyes again and gave herself over to the power of sleep.

* * *

She was ready to die, if that was what the gods decided. In the meantime, she would curl up against Sasuke and listen to the steady beating of his heart. If he wasn't scared, she wouldn't be, either.

Sasuke didn't know when (or even how) he'd fallen asleep, but the next time he opened his eyes he found peace. The cabin wasn't shaking, the passengers weren't panicking, and the sky outside (as far as he could tell from his current proximity to the window) was calm and relaxed. Most importantly, Hinata was snoozing comfortably in his lap, her soft cheek pressed against his thigh.

The Uchiha, discovering that his hand was resting on the curved slope of her shoulder, brought his fingers up to his eyes and rubbed the crusty grains out of the corner of his eyes. He opened them again and gazed around him.

It was sometime late at night, he figured, because most of the lights were muted and the students were quiet. Kiba snored loudly in the seat in front of Hinata and there was someone – was that Nara? That stupid bastard really could sleep anywhere – sprawled out under a blanket in the middle of the aisle. The only person who still seemed to be awake was Kakashi, who stood out at the front of the plane with his light glaring down over him. He idly flipped pages in his book and continued to read. Vaguely, Sasuke wondered if he'd even moved from that position during their collective near-death experience.

A sweet mumble of contention catching his ear, Sasuke renewed his attention on Hinata. She wriggled a little in her sleep and folded her sock feet underneath her. Her skirt was pulled up to her waist – had he left it like that? – and the Uchiha noticed that she still wasn't wearing any panties. He gently tugged the hem of her uniform down over her modesty and ignored the warm blush tingling in the crests of his ears.

Coughing a little, Sasuke again scanned the cabin as he searched for the missing underwear. The tiny swatch of white fabric eluded his gaze during the first attempt, so he cast it out again, more thoroughly this time. There was Kakashi with his (clearly involving) book...Iruka snoring loudly and drooling on the window...Ino stretched out across all three seats, her head on Akimichi's knee and assorted crumbs in her hair...Sakura clinging desperately to Naruto in her sleep, whimpering quietly...Naruto stroking Sakura's pink hair while he dozed...the flight attendants all passed out in their seats, cups of coffee tipping precariously in their hands...but no panties.

Oh, _there_ they were. Right on top of the drink cart.

Making a mental note to pocket them discreetly later, Sasuke settled back down into his chair and made himself more comfortable under Hinata. She wiggled a little as he moved, but remained steadfastly asleep and unaware of the world around her.

Tucking a stray piece of indigo hair behind her ear, Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. With any luck, they would both stay unconscious until they landed.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Bah...I kinda hate this chapter. Not because of the style, grammar, or anything, but because it's rather...pointless. But, having already written it in its entirety before realizing this, it seems a little wrong not to post it. So, instead, I cleaned it up, improved it and...still kinda hate it, haha. Oh, well...

Next chapter will be the last one and then there will be an epilogue tacked onto the end.

( 1 ) Morpheus – the Greek god of dreams, NOT the guy from the _Matrix_ trilogy. That would be stupid. (Gives that guy's character a totally new spin, though, don't it? :D Wiki it.

Self-beta'd.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– _Love can be black and white. SasuHina_


End file.
